Stephanie Rowe - Darkness Unleashed (18 page)

Then she set her hand on his chest, sliding it beneath his shirt so her palm was resting on his bare skin. "It will be easier if I have skin-to-skin contact," she said, as if she had to explain why she'd touched him more intimately. "Closer connection."

Without a word, he hooked his thumb over the collar of her muddy shirt and moved it aside so he was palming her bare skin. With his eyes closed, all of his senses were attuned to his sense of touch. Her skin was warm and incredibly soft. Fragile, as if a stiff wind would tear it apart. "Like this?"

"Yes." She snuggled closer to him, so she was pressed against his side. One of her breasts was against his ribs, a mound of temptation that called to him with a force he'd never experienced.

He fought against the desire building in him and quieted his mind, focusing on Catherine, forcing himself not to fight her invasion as she opened herself to him and invited his spirit to mingle with hers.

Unlike before, when it had been a desperate battle to save him, this time the connection was intimate and erotic, as her femininity called to him, seducing him with its warmth and beauty. He wanted to resist it. He wanted to claim his space and retreat into the world he knew, but he didn't. He owed her this much. He had to allow her in so he could heal her.

Her spirit wrapped around his, a tender embrace that reminded him of what it had felt like when she had touched him in comfort. It was beautiful and seductive, an allure that he didn't dare respond to. It was so foreign to him, all this gentleness and softness that was wrapping around him—

A shadow drifted across their connection, a cold mist of darkness and death. He recognized it instantly, and he realized it was coming from Catherine. Death was as much a part of her as the light and beauty. Protectiveness arose instinctively, and he reached out with his spirit, trying to enfold her in his protection, to keep the darkness away from her light. The moment he did, he felt something hum between them, a bond that sizzled and ignited. Suddenly, there were no barriers between them. He could feel every fissure of death that had split her soul, as well as the humanity struggling to survive in the miasma of doom and darkness. He was stunned by how much darkness she carried, by the depths of scarring on her being, by the weight of so many deaths on her existence.

He could feel the labored pain with each breath she took, and he sensed the depth of her physical suffering from all the bites she'd received in the mud. He knew what kind of damage the mites could cause, their poison going deep into the tissue as it ate away at the flesh. Fierce resolution poured through him, and he gathered her against him.
I will heal you,
he promised, offering the thought not through his mind, but through his feelings, through his soul, where they were connected.

You're so handy,
came the reply, making him laugh softly. Damn, it felt good to feel her presence within him, to be so connected.

Tucking her more tightly against him and wrapping his spirit around hers, Ryland opened himself to the healing sleep of his kind. As it began to take him, he felt Catherine tighten the bond holding them together, and then he was asleep, and she was with him.

* * *

"Catherine."

She awoke to the sound of Ryland's voice by her ear, his warm breath caressing the side of her neck, sending goose bumps down her spine. Her body was warm, nestled against his powerful one. She didn't want to wake up. She wanted to snuggle down against him into the safety net he gave her— "Oh my God!" She bolted upright so fast, her head almost hit him on the chin, but he jerked back just in time. "I fell asleep!" She frantically looked around, but Thano, Zach, and Ryland were all there, completely alive and fine.

She hadn't killed them in her sleep. How was that possible? She'd been so depleted, there was no way that she wouldn't have needed to feed...but there they were. Just as alive as they'd been when she went to sleep.

"Hey, you okay?" Ryland touched her arm, and she looked over at him. His eyes were back to their usual pits of black doom, and his skin was no longer covered in black slashes.

"I didn't try to kill you when I slept? Any of you?" She had to make sure.

His eyebrows went up. "Not me." He looked at his team. "You guys?"

Zach shook his head.

Thano shrugged. "No, but you had some erotic dreams about the big guy there. You gotta learn to shut me out, Catherine, because there are things about Ry that I just don't want to know."

Heat suffused Catherine's cheeks as she recalled some of her dreams. "You saw those?"

"Shit, yeah." Thano gave a visible shudder. "I'm too young to be exposed to that kind of stuff."

She looked at Ryland. "Did you—"

He gave her a hooded, heated look that made a searing heat plunge deep into her belly. "We were fully merged, Cat. There were no secrets during that healing sleep."

"Ohhh..." Complete mortification did not even begin to describe the depths of her embarrassment. She hadn't even thought about sex since the day Simon had betrayed her, but the kiss with Ryland had awoken the part of her that had been long dormant, and it had returned with a vengeance. And they'd all seen it? She could not think of a single response to make it go away. Not one brilliant idea came to her blank mind. "Um…"

"It's okay," Ryland said, looking unmistakably smug. "Thano wasn't in those dreams, just me, so it's all good." He stood up and held out his hand to her. "Let's go. We want to be out of the nether-realm before sundown."

"We do?" Catherine put her hand in his and let him help her to her feet. The sun was so bright it was almost blinding, so strong she didn't even have to try to harvest it. It just filled her with its light all on its own. Was that why she'd been able to sleep without killing them? Because the sun had been streaming over her? She knew that she'd been able to give Ryland the white light of protection earlier because the sun had risen and she'd channeled its energy into him. Had her sleep been innocent for the same reason? Or had it been something else? Had Ryland somehow been able to contain it when she'd been merged with him?

She watched him as he conversed with his teammates, briefing them on the creatures they were going to find. Alice had been helpful for containing Catherine's dark side, but even Alice hadn't been able to help her once Lucy had been kidnapped. She'd lost it, which was why it had been so easy for the wizard to manipulate her. Was Ryland like Alice, only a thousand times more? And if he was, what did that mean?

He looked over at her. "Did you hear that? Are you paying attention?"

"No."

He gave her such an exasperated look that she almost laughed. "Get over here, woman." He grabbed her wrist and tugged her over to them, his gesture almost playful.

As he slung his arm over her shoulders and yanked her against him, Thano raised his brows at them. "You don't look cranky, Ry. You must be poisoned or something. You feel okay?"

"The angel had erotic dreams about me," Ryland said. "What's to be cranky about?" Then he grinned at her and kissed her hard, taking away her embarrassment before it could rise again. It wasn't just a kiss. It was a statement of ownership, claiming her in front of the others, accepting her dreams as her own claim on him.

She didn't want to claim him. And she didn't want him to own her. But what choice did she have? They were going into the nether-realm, and their guide was a volatile warrior on the edge of turning into a murderous beast. The situation was too precarious, their need for Ryland too great.

If letting Ryland go all he-man on her increased the likelihood that she could save Lucy by making him sane, she had to do it. But she had to remember what happened before with Simon. She had to remember who Ryland truly was—a creature from the same place as Simon.

She couldn't make the same mistake she'd made before, and trust the man who had the most power to destroy her.

She could never forget that. Ever. No matter how tantalizing his kisses were.

They traveled in absolute silence once they crossed the border into the outlands of the nether-realm.

Even Apollo's massive hooves made no sound as he cantered across the forest floor.

Ryland was in the lead, moving in a steady lope across the lush terrain. Per his orders, Catherine kept pace on his heels, so close that she could feel the heat from his body as they ran. She carefully placed her feet precisely where he'd stepped, following his instructions exactly, not daring to deviate in this hostile land that only he knew how to traverse.

Right behind her was Zach, mirroring her footsteps with the same precision that she was tracking Ryland's.

In the rear were Apollo and Thano, who traveled so lightly she wasn't sure they were actually touching the ground.

Ryland had guided them around the sinkhole, and then broke into a hard run along the river, telling them to stay in the sunshine for as long as possible, which was fine with her.

But now, almost an hour after they'd crossed the border, the sunlight was beginning to fade, obscured by a layer of a sickly green mist that became more oppressive the farther they progressed. The air became thick and heavy, swirling around her like the steam from a hot spring, coating her skin. The ground was spongy and damp, her feet sinking too far down for comfort with each step. The trees were coated with heavy black moss that seemed to bleed vengeance and anger. Glowing orange eyes tracked them as they walked, visible in the depths of the woods beside them.

Ryland hadn't paused to acknowledge any of them. He just kept moving swiftly and with deadly certainty. He knew exactly where he was going, and he knew where all the traps were.

She hoped.

He raised his hand and flicked his wrist in a circle to draw their attention. Up ahead was a chasm of black, swirling smoke. The edges of it descended into rocky cliffs that vanished into a bottomless crevasse. Discs of black mist appeared to float across the space, diving and spinning as if they were alive and playing some kind of dodgeball game. Ryland paused at the edge of the chasm, studying the discs. His concentration was so intense that the air was actually vibrating with it. After a moment, he picked up a log that was near him. He hurled it into the air, into the midst of the spinning, misty discs. The air ignited with a violent humming and then thousands of discs converged upon the wood. Within a millisecond, the log had been reduced to sawdust, sliced to pieces by the discs.

Catherine swallowed as the discs dispersed again, resuming their random circling... No, she realized. They weren't flying randomly. They were hunting for prey with precise, strategic stalking. Dear God. What were they?

After a moment, Ryland turned and looked back at her.

Cat?

She was startled by the sound of Thano's voice in her mind. Not Ryland's. Thano's voice, but it was Ryland who was looking at her, as if he had spoken.
What?
She spoke tentatively, unsure how to respond. Could she really speak in her mind and have Thano hear it?

Ry wants to know whether you can shield us from those discs. Can you make us invisible to them? Apparently, we need to get across there.

She looked at Ryland, whose face was shuttered and tense, no doubt because he'd had to feed the question to Thano to ask her. She assumed that it was too risky to speak aloud, and the only way to connect with her was through Thano. It was uncomfortable to feel Thano so intimately connected to her, but she knew she had no choice. They were in a hostile land now, and precautions had to be taken. Telling herself to chill out, she looked past Ryland at the flying discs, trying to get a sense of what they were. Could she really hide them from those things? One mistake and they would all be dinner.

Ryland walked over to her and grabbed her hands.
Cat.

Again, Thano's voice in her mind, while Ryland was staring at her. Weird. Really weird.
What?

Ry said to tell you that you can do it. Think of your daughter. You can't fail her.

Resolution surged through her, and Ryland smiled. He touched her face and gave a brief nod.

Good job
, Thano said.
He wants you to know that you're hot as hell when you go warrior on him, but I just want to go on the record that giving sex messages between the two of you is off limits. You guys need to develop sign language for that or something.

Her heart jumped, but Ryland's gaze snapped to Thano, giving him a look designed to kill.

Thano's laughter echoed in her mind.
Okay, he didn't say he thinks you're hot as hell. But it's obviously true.

Ryland made a slicing motion across the front of his throat, and Thano's laughter faded.
So, let's do this,
Thano said, his voice clipped and precise, a warrior ready for battle.

Ryland took her hand and moved her up beside him to the edge of the cliff. A quick gesture from him told her that he wanted to carry her across the crevasse. She didn't bother to protest, not when he was so much more athletic than she was. If he wanted to leap across a bottomless pit guarded by flesh-eating Frisbees, she was more than happy to rely on his physical capabilities instead of hers. So she let him pick her up. Trying to still her pounding heart at the intimacy of their position, she wrapped her arms and legs around him as their bodies melded together, chest-to-chest. He locked his left arm around her waist and kept his right arm free for fighting, his machete gripped tightly in his fist.

Catherine looked over his shoulder at Thano, Zach, and Apollo. All three of them were watching her, waiting for her to shield them. For a split second, trepidation filled her. What if she failed and these good men died? What if the creatures took her as well? There would be no one left to save her daughter. Tension rippled through her, and Ryland's arm tightened around her waist. He turned his head so his mouth was against her ear. "You can do it," he whispered, his voice nothing more than a breath, hidden from all except her. "I believe in you."